Voicemail System and Method for Providing Voicemail to Text Message Conversion

ABSTRACT

A method and system for allowing a calling party to send a voicemail message as a text message. A calling party leaves a voicemail message and that message is converted from voice to a text message. If the calling party wishes to confirm the conversion, the text message is then converted to a voicemail message. The converted voicemail message is presented to the calling party so that the calling party can review and edit the message. The calling party can review and edit any portion of the converted voicemail message. The edits of the voicemail message are applied and the voicemail message is converted to a new text message. If the calling party wishes to further review and edit the text message, it is converted to a new voicemail; otherwise the text message is sent to the called party.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to voicemail systems and, moreparticularly, to a voicemail system and method for providing voicemailto text message conversion.

BACKGROUND

Text messaging, such as Short Message Service (SMS) messaging, is apopular mode of communication. To send an SMS message a user composes atext message by typing a short message into a computer, cell phone, orother compatible electronic device. After the user composes the messageand presses a “send” key, the resulting message is sent to an SMSmessage center or SMSC. The SMSC forwards the short message to thedestination computer, cell phone, or other device capable of receivingand displaying the message. The destination device generally receivesthe message a short time thereafter.

Voicemail is another popular messaging service. Voicemail messages allowa calling party to leave a message that is stored in a virtual mailboxdesignated for the unavailable or unresponsive called party. The calledparty can retrieve his/her voicemail messages by dialing into thevoicemail system.

Text messaging allows a called party to receive messages without havingto connect to a voicemail system. For some people, such as those withdisabilities or physical impairments, text messaging is not possible orconvenient. Although users can send and receive messages quickly withtext messaging, text messaging can be dangerous at times, for example,while driving. Voicemail allows a calling party to send a message whenit is inconvenient or impossible to type a message.

Current technology, such as speech recognition and speech synthesis,attempts to bridge the gap between voicemail messages and text messages.Products are known in the art that use speech recognition and speechsynthesis to send voicemail messages as text to wireless devices. Speechrecognition translates spoken words into text. Conversely, speechsynthesis presents text as speech. While speech recognition has improvedsignificantly, the technology is not without its deficiencies.Individual speech patterns, language differences, dialects, and accents,among other things, make achieving accurate and precise speechtranslation difficult. When speech recognition is paired with speechsynthesis, the probability of the resulting message being different fromthe original message increases dramatically.

Therefore, assuming an increase in the availability and use of voicemailto text message services results in a need for systems and methods thatprovide confirmation functions to ensure the correct intended textmessage is sent to a called party.

SUMMARY

The systems and methods described herein allow a calling party toconfirm a voicemail message after it is translated to text and before itis sent to the called party. An exemplary voice-to-text message systemcan include at least one communications device configured to functionwith a messaging application; the messaging application can be, forexample, an Instant Messaging (IM) application, a Short Message Service(SMS) application, or an Enhanced Message Service (EMS). Thevoice-to-text message system can also include a dialog manager, a speechrecognition system, and a speech synthesis system. The dialog managercan be configured to allow the calling party to review and edit aconverted voicemail message.

An exemplary method for using the voice-to-text message system includesa calling party recording a voicemail message for a called party. Thevoicemail message is converted to a text message and the text message isthen converted to voice and presented to the calling party. After themessage is translated and presented, the calling party is given anoption to confirm or edit the voicemail message. Upon receipt of arequest to edit the voicemail message, means for editing the voicemailmessage, such as, but not limited to, verbal edits or edits using a userinterface are provided by the system. An edited voicemail message isthereafter generated. The edited voicemail message can include at leastone edited portion of the voicemail message initially played to thecalling party.

The method is repeated when the calling party has finished making edits.The edited voicemail message is converted to a new text message and thenew text message is converted to voice and presented to the callingparty. The converted voicemail message that is presented to the callingparty can include at least the edited portion of the message. Thecalling party is given the option again to confirm or edit the voicemailmessage. The calling party can edit until the message is correct. Whenthe calling party is satisfied, a confirmation is sent by the callingparty and the edited text message is sent to the called party.Alternatively, the resulting text message may be sent to both the calledparty and the calling party once the message is confirmed by the callingparty.

The present invention allows the calling party to repeatedly review andedit their message prior to sending it to a called party. The callingparty can review the edited portions of the message only, the entiremessage, or any combination of selected words surrounding the editedportions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a communicationssystem for providing voicemail to text message conversion.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a voice-to-textmessage system, according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for providingvoicemail to text message conversion, according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein. It must be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merelyexemplary examples of the invention that may be embodied in various andalternative forms, and combinations thereof. As used herein, the word“exemplary” is used expansively to refer to embodiments that serve as anillustration, specimen, model or pattern. The figures are notnecessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimizedto show details of particular components. In other instances, well-knowncomponents, systems, materials or methods have not been described indetail in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. Therefore,specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not tobe interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and asa representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numerals represent likeelements throughout the several views, FIG. 1 depicts an exemplarycommunications system 100, according to the present invention. Theillustrated system 100 includes a calling party device 102 and a calledparty device 104 in communication with a wireless network 106. Thewireless network 106 can be based on, for example, GSM, UMTS, TDMA, andCDMA, although alternative networks are contemplated. Although theillustrated embodiment depicts the calling and called party devices 102,104 as mobile phones, the calling party and the called party may bealternatively be associated with a landline device 108, a computer 110,a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) device 112, any device capable ofreceiving text, combinations thereof, and the like. These alternativedevices are illustrated as being in communication with a packet network(e.g., the Internet) 114 or a public switched telephone network (PSTN)116.

The wireless network 106 is in communication with a Short MessageService center (SMSC) 118. The SMSC 118 functions to receive SMSmessages from a source device and forward the SMS messages to adestination device. The SMSC 118 is also in communication with avoice-to-text message system 120, which is itself in communication withother networks 106, 114, 116.

The voice-to-text message system 120 converts voicemail messages to textmessages and allows a calling party to review, edit, and review at leastthe edited portion of a message prior to confirming the message fortransmission. The voice-to-text message system 120 sends convertedmessages to the SMSC 118, which receives the converted messages andforwards the messages to the appropriate called party (destination)device.

An exemplary call scenario is now described. A call is placed from thecalling party device 102 and routed through the wireless network 106. Ifthe calling party device 102 does not establish a connection with thecalled party, the calling party is connected to the voice-to-textmessage system 120. The voice-to-text message system 120 presents avoicemail greeting to the calling party and prompts the calling party toleave a voicemail message. If the calling party chooses to leave avoicemail message they remain connected to the voice-to-text messagesystem 120 and an indicator notifies the calling party to beginrecording a voicemail message, which is generally a short, timedmessage. The calling party may review the voicemail message beforerequesting it be sent to the called party. In an exemplary embodiment,the voice-to-text message system 120 prompts the calling party todetermine whether the voicemail message should be stored as a voicemailmessage or sent as a text message to the called party. If the callingparty selects the voicemail message is to be stored as a voicemailmessage, then the recorded message is stored in the voice-to-textmessage system 120 for later retrieval by the called party. However, ifthe calling party elects to have the voicemail message sent as a textmessage, the voicemail message is converted to a text message andtransmitted (pending any edit and/or review process) via a protocol tothe SMSC 118. One such protocol generally used, by way of example andnot limitation, is short message peer to peer messaging protocol (SMPP).The SMSC 118 receives and stores the text message and eventuallyforwards the text message to the called party when the called party'sdevice 104 is available. In alternate embodiments, a voicemail messagemay be initiated from a landline device 108, a computer 110, or a VoIPdevice 112.

FIG. 2 further illustrates the elements and processes of thevoice-to-text message system 120. The illustrated voice-to-text messagesystem 120 includes a voicemail repository 210, a text messagerepository 212, a speech recognition system 214, a speech synthesissystem 216, and a dialog manager 218. The dialog manager 218 isresponsible for recognizing the calling party's responses, replayinguser selected portions of the voicemail message, and editing userselected portions of the voicemail message. The speech synthesis system216 is responsible for converting text to voice and, the speechrecognition system 214 is responsible for converting voice to text. Therepositories 210, 212 are responsible for storing voicemail message andtext messages, respectively.

The above systems 214, 216, manager 218, and repositories 210, 212 caneach include hardware, software, or combinations thereof that may, aloneor in combination, form the systems, manager and/or repositories forperforming various processes of the present invention. For example,hardware components can include, but are not limited to, a processor anda memory. The processor can be, for example, a single-processor or amultiprocessor designed on a single or multiprocessor die or on separatedice within the same system. A memory can be, for example, any availablemedia accessed by another component (e.g., a processor) and includes,but is not limited to, volatile and non-volatile media, removable andnon-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation,computer-readable media can comprise device storage media andcommunication media. Storage media includes volatile and/ornon-volatile, removable and/or non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for the storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. Storage media can include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM,EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disc (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedium which can be used to store the desired information for thevoice-to-text system 120. Moreover, the memory can include one or morerelational, hierarchical, and/or network databases to manage and storerelevant data.

Additionally, it should be understood that the term “repository” is usedherein to broadly encompass any form of storage that is configured tostore a voicemail message and/or text message for later use. The“repository” can be realized as a memory or a database stored within amemory. It is also contemplated that although the exemplaryvoice-to-text message system 120 includes two repositories, at least onerepository may be used in alternative embodiments.

When a voicemail message is received from a calling party, it is storedin the voicemail repository 210. An example of the calling party'svoicemail message could be, “Hey, Joe. Meet me at the office.” Thespeech recognition system 214 converts the voicemail message to a textmessage and passes it to the text message repository 212 where it isstored. The stored text message may be “Hey< >joe< >meet me at theoffer.” If the calling party chooses to confirm the text message withouthearing the converted message, the text message “Hey< >joe< >meet me atthe offer” is sent to the SMSC 118 (FIG. 1) where it is stored andforwarded to the called party's device 104. However, if the callingparty elects to review or edit the text message, the text message issent to the speech synthesis system 216. The speech synthesis system 216converts the text message to voice and routes it back to the voicemailrepository 210 so it may be retrieved by the dialog manager 218 andpresented to the calling party. The calling party will hear “Hey (pause)joe (pause) meet me at the offer” in this example. By way of example,and not limitation, “< >” and “(pause)” are textual representations ofpauses in the text message and the voicemail message, respectively. Ifthe calling party is satisfied with the conversion, the dialog manager218 provides options to confirm or further edit the converted message.If the calling party confirms the converted message, the text message isat least temporarily stored in the text message repository and is sentto the SMSC 118, where it is stored and forwarded to the called(destination) party.

If a request to further edit is made by the calling party, the dialogmanager 218 prompts the calling party to select which portion of thevoicemail message to review and edit. The calling party has a choice ofwhether the entire voicemail message, an individual word, or a string ofwords is replayed. For example, the calling party may request that allwords after the first pause be presented. The calling party would hear“joe (pause) meet me at the offer.” By alternative example, the callingparty may request the last 3 words be replayed. Accordingly, the dialogmanager 218 would play “at the offer.” By further alternative example,the calling party may request to hear the last word of the message,prompting the dialog manager 218 to play only the word “offer.”Similarly, the calling party may edit the voicemail message by selectingany number of words in the message to replace. As a continuation of thepresent example, the calling party prompts the voicemail system toreplace “offer” with “office” or replace “meet me at the offer” with“page Bob at the gym,” or any other word, word string, or combination ofwords. The calling party may make the requests to review and edit thevoicemail message using any means for editing, including, but notlimited to, verbal edits or edits using a user interface, such as, akeyboard, keypad, mouse, scroll wheel, track ball, touch screen, touchpad, or any combination thereof, and the like.

The dialog manager 218 can continue to prompt the calling party toreview and select portions of the converted voicemail message until thecalling party is done editing. When the calling party is satisfied withthe edited message, the voicemail message and the edits are stored inthe voicemail repository 210 and routed back to the speech recognitionsystem 214 to be converted to text. The resulting text message is storedin the text message repository 212 and not delivered until the callingparty confirms the text message is ready to be sent.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a flowchart of an exemplary method 300 foroperating the voice-to-text system 120 is illustrated, according to thepresent invention. The method 300 begins and proceeds to step 302,wherein the voice-to-text message system 120 receives a voicemailmessage from a calling party for a called party. The speech recognitionsystem 214 (FIG. 2) converts the voicemail message to a text message atstep 304. At step 306, the calling party is prompted to confirm theconverted text message. If the calling party responds “No” to theconfirmation, the text message is sent to the called party at step 308and the method 300 ends. If, however, the calling party elects toconfirm the text message, the text message is converted to a voicemessage at step 310. At step 312, a converted voicemail message ispresented to the calling party for review. At step 314, the callingparty is given the option again to confirm or edit the voicemailmessage. If the calling party elects not to edit the voicemail message,step 308 is followed and the text message is sent to the called party,after which the method 300 ends. If the calling party elects to edit thevoicemail message, flow proceeds to step 316 and the dialog manager 218(FIG. 2) directs the calling party to select portions of the voicemailmessage to review and edit. When the calling party has completed editingat step 318, the process starts again at step 304 where the editedvoicemail message is converted to a text message. The calling party maychoose to confirm the text message at step 306, before hearing the textto voice conversion, or at step 314, after hearing the text to voiceconversion. The confirmation by the calling party at either step 306 or314 permits the text message to be sent to the called party.

In an alternate embodiment, the confirmation by the calling party willcause the text message to be sent to the called party and a copy of thetext message to be sent to the calling party. In another embodiment, thedialog manager allows the calling party to edit the voicemail messagebefore it is converted by the speech recognition system. Thisfunctionality allows a calling party that knows the voicemail message isincorrect to make changes to the voicemail message before it isconverted. As detailed above, the dialog manager 218 can prompt thecalling party to select which portion of the voicemail message to reviewand edit. The calling party can still be provided a choice of whetherthe entire voicemail message, an individual word, or a string of wordsis replayed.

The law does not require and it is economically prohibitive toillustrate and teach every possible embodiment of the present claims.Hence, the above-described embodiments are merely exemplaryillustrations of implementations set forth for a clear understanding ofthe principles of the invention. Variations, modifications, andcombinations may be made to the above-described embodiments withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims. All such variations,modifications, and combinations are included herein by the scope of thisdisclosure and the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a systemcomprising a processor, from a calling-party device, a first voicemessage; initiating, by the system, converting the first voice messageto a second message in a different format; initiating presenting, to thecalling-party device in response to input to the calling-party deviceindicating a confirmation of the second message in the different format,a first copy option to receive a copy of the second message in thedifferent format; and transmitting the copy of the second message in thedifferent format to the calling-party device in response to input to thecalling-party device indicating a selection of the first copy option. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating presenting, to thecalling-party device, a second copy option to receive a copy of thefirst voice message.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the differentformat includes a text format.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising initiating, by the system, converting the second message inthe different format to a second voice message.
 5. The method of claim4, further comprising: initiating, by the system, presenting at least aportion of the second voice message to the calling-party device; andinitiating, by the system, presenting, to the calling-party device, aconfirmation option to confirm the second message in the differentformat.
 6. The method of claim 4, initiating, by the system, if arequest to edit the second voice message is received, editing the secondmessage in the different format using the calling-party device.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising storing, by the system, each ofthe first voice message and the second message in the different formatin a respective repository.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprisinginitiating, by the system, presenting, to the calling-party device, anedit option to edit the first voice message.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising initiating, by the system, presenting, to thecalling-party device, an confirmation option to confirm the first voicemessage and thereby store the first voice message in a voicemailrepository for retrieval by a called-party.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein an input to the calling party device indicating confirmation ofthe first voice message is the input to the calling-party deviceindicating the confirmation of the second message in the differentformat
 11. A method, comprising: receiving, by a system comprising aprocessor, from a calling-party device, a first voice message;initiating, by the system, converting the first voice message to asecond message in a different format; initiating presenting, to thecalling-party device, a first option to present the second message inthe different format; initiating presenting, to the calling-partydevice, in response to input to the calling-party device indicating aconfirmation of the second message in the different format, a secondoption to receive a copy of the second message in the different format;and transmitting the copy of the second message in the different formatto the calling-party device in response to input to the calling-partydevice indicating a selection of the second option.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the second message in the different format is a textmessage.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising initiating, bythe system, presenting, to the calling-party device, a third option toconfirm the second message in the different format.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, further comprising transmitting, in response to input to thecalling-party device indicating the confirmation of the second messagein the different format, the second message in the different format to acalled-party device.
 15. The method of claim 13, initiating, by thesystem, if a request to edit the second message in the different formatis received from the calling-party device, editing the second message inthe different format using the calling-party device.
 16. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising storing, by the system, each of the firstvoice message and the second message in the different format in arespective repository.
 17. The method of claim 11, further comprisinginitiating, by the system, presenting, to the calling-party device, athird option to edit the first voice message.
 18. The method of claim11, further comprising initiating, by the system, presenting, to thecalling-party device, a third option to confirm the first voice messageand thereby store the first voice message in a voicemail repository forretrieval by a called-party.
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein aninput to the calling party device indicating confirmation of the firstvoice message is the input to the calling-party device indicating theconfirmation of the second message in the different format.
 20. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising transmitting, by the system, thesecond message in the different format to a called-party device.